


The Star That Shines Most

by DaggerFallen



Category: Arc of a Scythe Series - Neal Shusterman
Genre: F/M, Fluff, a bit of angst i suppose, but nothing people didnt see coming, some young curie and faraday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23899702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaggerFallen/pseuds/DaggerFallen
Summary: This highlights Curie's crush on Faraday during her apprenticeship and how she deals with things when they start to go downhill. This is a present for a friend of mine!!
Relationships: Scythe Curie/Scythe Faraday (Arc of a Scythe)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. Honorable Scythe

Susan had lived a pretty normal life at this point in time. Nothing terribly unusual. She went to school like everyone else her age, got good grades, and like everyone else she would just be happy when al this school stuff was over. It wasn’t like she had long to go, this being her senior year.

The days seemed to drag on, she wanted to have fun already, this wasn’t it.

Though she had to admit the day became infinitely more interesting the day that _the_ Scythe Michael Faraday showed up at her school. The utter quiet of the halls as he walked by, commanding their attention, but also causing them to turn their heads was awe inspiring.

Scythe Faraday was by all means a well-known man. A Scythe who gleaned only the wicked, and from what she had heard he was handsome to boot.

He stepped past her, the flow of his ivory robes causing a small breeze that gave her a chill. Though instead of turning away she feigned walking down the hall in the same direction to a class in an attempt to get a closer look at his face, which had previously been obscured by the robe.

Someone she knew from class grabbed her by the arm, “Susan, what the hell are you doing? You’re going to get yourself gleaned!” they whisper-yelled at her, glancing fearfully at the young scythe. Their hand on Susan’s arm stiffened and pulled away when Faraday turned to catch their gaze, they gulped and backed away.

“A-anyways, I have to go to class!” they turned around and made their way away from Scythe Faraday despite the fact that Susan knew full well that the scythe was standing right in front of their classroom door.

She rolled her eyes and turned back to see if she could catch a glimpse of his face before he turned back around. There were rumors that Faraday hadn’t even turned the corner yet, he was still in his actual twenties, and the though of a scythe being that young rather than an old crone was something she definitely wanted to see.

“Is there something wrong?”

Susan practically yelped when she heard a voice come from the man in the ivory robes. He was now turned to her, which to many would give them an awful feeling of dread. Susan though, could hardly contain her excitement. She saw his face come into view, and he really was young like they said. Most could tell a true twenty when they saw one, and there was no doubt about it, this was it.

She felt her heart beat quickly, he was a lot cuter than she expected him to be. Though she blamed that a bit on the inherent danger of the situation. Her gaze trailed up and finally met his eyes, and that was what sealed the deal on how her muddled feelings at the moment sorted themselves out. Rather than the intimidating gaze of a scythe, she was met with the confused look of a boy around her age trying to make sense of a weird girl like her who didn’t run away.

It took her a moment before she remembered that he had asked a question, “Oh, nothing is wrong, though I should get to class. Have a nice day Honorable Scythe Faraday.” She waved and stepped into the classroom.

All the students inside eyed her like she was crazy, but she didn’t really care. She sat down in her seat and listened to the teacher drone on about history that wasn’t really relevant anymore. Today was about the president, though Susan wasn’t even sure why they needed one if they had the Thunderhead to take care of everything. If anything, political powers were a hinderance, though she knew the Thunderhead couldn’t do anything about it.

If she were a scythe that’s the first thing she would do. The world would be a lot better without them. She gave a heavy sigh, though eyed the door when it opened.

Faraday stepped in, asking for a specific student before leaving with said student. Susan found her eyes catching his gaze once more on his way out, the seriousness behind them this time a bit chilling. She almost moved to follow, but quickly corrected herself and stayed seated with a sigh.

After meeting Scythe Faraday becoming a scythe was all the more an alluring idea. Its not that she wanted to kill people per se, but she felt that the world could benefit from her work as a scythe. She wouldn’t discriminate past the world leaders, and she felt like it would be pretty cool to learn about things that civilians never did.

Her home life was boring, and her family was normal by all means. A part of her longed for the implied excitement that would come from being a scythe. So, when she got home she wrote in her diary and laid in her bed, dreaming of what it would be like to work alongside Honorable Scythe Michael Faraday. She had to admit… it sounded pretty good.


	2. To Become a Scythe

The next morning Susan woke to an unexpected noise. Her parents were cooking in the kitchen, which was a common occurrence for sure, but they never cooked without her. As much as she loved to cook, they always tried to include her, so there had to be something that had made them change their minds today.

She checked her clock to see if perhaps she had slept in too late for breakfast and they had started without her for that reason, but it was only seven in the morning. She got up, got dressed in her weekend wear, and headed down the stairs to where her family was waiting for her.

Her sleepy gaze wandered over the people who sat at the table, and for a moment she felt a bit of confusion. Her mother and father were cooking, and her siblings sat at the table and waited patiently—which in and of itself was a sight to behold—but with them was another figure. She could’ve sworn for a moment that it was Scythe Faraday.

Suddenly after taking a moment and realizing the utter silence that was floating through their house aside from the clacking of dishes and the sizzling of a nice breakfast, Susan realized the weight that seemed to hang in the air. Her eyes flicked back to the splash of white at the table, and indeed the man she had been thinking of was sitting in her house. She didn’t know how to feel, aside from the worry for her family that he had come to glean one of them.

“Susan,” she felt a shiver when Scythe Faraday called her by name, and she gave him her full undivided attention, “I’d like to talk with you about something.”

She didn’t know whether to be scared or excited. The faces of her family members told her that this was a gleaning, but a feeling in her gut told her otherwise. Though Susan herself was reluctant on which feeling to follow.

As always however she went with her gut and stepped over to the man, brimming with confidence as she met his eyes, a determined look about her. She couldn’t tell if he had expected this or not from his expression, but she didn’t care. She would meet what he had to tell her with a grin.

“Susan, you’re aware of what Scythes do and stand for, correct?” he asked, clearing his throat and standing, which made him just the slightest bit taller than her. It was just enough for him to have to look down at her, and for just a moment she saw that intimidating scythe that everyone had spoken about at school.

“I am. You glean indiscriminately to curb the population. You have a list of rules you follow, though I can’t say I remember them off the top of my head,” she admitted a little sheepishly. It was made worse by the fact that Scythe Faraday’s gaze didn’t seem to waver in the slightest. She gulped just a bit, but did her absolute best not to avoid his eyes.

“I see, and were you to… become a Scythe… would you uphold those rules, or would you break them on your own whims?” Scythe Faraday asked with a calculating tone. Susan hated the fact that she knew she couldn’t lie to this man. She took a deep breath and mustered all the cockiness she could put forth before a scythe with the hopes of not being gleaned.

“I should hope that one of my first calls to action would be to get rid of this pesky government. It does nothing but hold back the Thunderhead from doing its job. I would consider that as wicked as anyone you yourself would glean. Aside from that I intend to uphold the rules,” she gave him the honest truth with a smirk that was between confidence and regret.

Her heart stopped and she almost gave a nervous giggle when his look sharpened just a bit at her. He hadn’t thought that was funny, which was fair since she wasn’t trying to be. Susan instead cleared her throat and kept their eyes locked best she could while he stayed silent, judging her far more than she would ever wish to be by anyone.

“That is an attitude that I wish to work on while you train under me as an apprentice,” Scythe Faraday murmured in a tone so quiet to himself that Susan had almost missed it. She felt lighter than air when she finally processed the words.

“Do you accept an apprenti-“

“Yes,” she had blurted out before he could even finish his sentence. Then she of course bit her tongue a bit at the prospect of interrupting a Scythe, but Scythe Faraday had already offered, so she felt like to go back on his words wasn’t an option for him at the moment.

Her family, she knew, was increasingly relieved with this situation, since they’d be granted immunity from gleanings for the foreseeable future. There were no downsides to her accepting this apprenticeship, aside from not being able to cook with her family again, though that wasn’t something she really worried about. She could cook on her own just as well, and she was fine knowing her family would be safe.

Scythe Faraday bowed to her family, which she found a kind gesture. She hugger her parents, feeling the waves of relief and happiness that none of them were gleaned, and the apprehension at the fact that a loved one of theirs was going the be someone who gleaned others under the name of the Scythedom. It wasn’t a pleasant thing to think about someone who you had spent your time raising, knowing that now they held a status much higher than your own.

Susan let go and gave them a confident wink and wave, she was ready; more than ready. She was going to take the Scythedom by storm.


	3. Ease Up

The apprenticeship certainly wasn’t easy, training with every weapon known to man took time and patience, of which she was learning. Journaling had been something she had taken to rather well, she enjoyed writing down her thoughts, and she knew someday that other Scythe’s in training would see her work, which made her that much more proud. Studying wasn’t much of a challenge, she felt like she could store an infinite amount of knowledge, because learning about weapons and poisons was interesting compared to what they taught in school. That and it actually felt important.

Living with Scythe Faraday however was much different than coming across him in public under the sickening feeling that one might be gleaned while he was there. His mannerisms at home reminded her much more of a young man than his previous attitude. He always asked for a glass of water before bed, he read often, and though he left sometimes during the day, she knew where he was going.

That didn’t make her feel any less attraction towards him, in fact, she almost found him more endearing now that his face had an inherent boyishness behind it rather than mystery. That wasn’t to say she didn’t find him mysterious still, oh no, Honorable Scythe Michael Faraday was full of surprises.

Not two weeks in he had her select who he would be gleaning, which came as a shock to her. She decided to keep as the rules stated and pick randomly, which seemed to please Faraday at least a little. A bit later he asked her to be the one to deal the card of death to one of the gleaned, of which she of course carried out, no matter how hard it had been to make the choice. She was, if anything, determined.

She found the days that she impressed him to be most enjoyable. He spoke to her more, actually held conversations, even if they were mostly scythe based conversations. She had even cooked for him on more than one occasion. Scythe Faraday was hardly an approachable man, so she took what chances she could.

Sometimes though, when she brought him his water at night, he was already asleep. She found herself standing next to the bedside, lost in thought as she held the cup. She certainly felt as though she was deeply in love with Scythe Faraday, despite their brief time together. This crush felt like anything but.

Her eyes roved over his sleeping back, even now in his ivory robes. She wondered what his frame looked like without them. Was he built? He would have to be to be able to pull off some of the maneuvers that he demonstrated in their Bokator sparring matches. She wanted to get a peek of his face, but if he opened his eyes and she was on the side of his bed without the bedside table that’d be a bit awkward.

She thought over one of the Scythe commandments, remembering that love between Scythe’s was completely out of the question. For a moment she wondered if they could get away with it, but Scythe Faraday was such a stickler for the rules that she doubted it would ever happen. She instead gave a short sigh, setting the glass of water on the bedside table as she made her exit.

She would try and steal a kiss from him, but there was no telling what they did to rejected scythes, at least no one had told her yet. She couldn’t say that she wanted to find out, so she would keep what she felt under wraps for now. The thought at least though was enough to have her giggling to herself in her room.

She wrote down in her journal that night, fawning over Honorable Scythe Michael Faraday. She was fairly certain he knew about her attraction to him. She was a bit obvious, but its not like she cared about that. Either he would act on it or he wouldn’t. Looking at him and admiring him wasn’t a crime, was it? She guessed she would find out at some point.

The next morning Scythe Faraday seemed to be sitting in thought quite a bit more than usual. She set him out breakfast, and he had hardly touched it. She wondered what could possibly be troubling a Scythe so much. Well, aside from death.

“Is something wrong, Scythe Faraday?” she asked him while pouring a glass of water.

He looked up, catching her eyes for a split second before looking away, “It’s nothing, Susan.”

She didn’t feel too reassured by that.

“Scythe’s can have days off, can’t they? Take a break from gleaning today and relax,” she stepped over to him and tried to rub his shoulders soothingly, though he tensed considerably under her hands. She felt it was worse than she thought, so she continued to try and ease his tension.

“I assure you, I’m fine,” he gently took her hands away from his shoulders and stood. Susan almost felt bad for liking the feeling of her hand in his while he clearly wasn’t having the best day. She shook the thought from her mind.

“Then… I’m ready for training today. Conclave is soon isn’t it?” she asked, if she couldn’t but his worries at ease, the least she could do was perform to his standards.

Scythe Faraday took a deep breath and nodded, “I think all we have to work on is your Bokator, you seem to be excelling in every other aspect. Though I would like us to take a look at the commandments again.”

Busted. There was no doubt in her mind that he knew now. Either that or he was trying to once again nail in the idea that gleaning the world leaders did not follow the rules of the Scythedom. Either way she felt caught.

Training today felt much more on edge than usual. Their Bokator match certainly felt like Scythe Faraday was judging her skills. That made her work harder.

They threw some of the more common moves at first, but Susan decided to spice things up. She swept his ankle, surprising the man if for a mere half second, just enough that he actually let out a yelp of surprise. With that she had Scythe Faraday pinned.

The noise he had let out came as such a shock to her. The thought of him losing composure because he hadn’t been ready for her to pull a move like that was something she found hilarious. She began laughing over him while he laid underneath her, an appalled look about him.

“If you could get off of me… I would appreciate it,” Scythe Faraday said slowly, seemingly his breath coming back to him.

The tone of voice had caught Susan off guard. Her laughing stalled and she immediately got off of him, though she still felt that surge of confidence, “Did good, didn’t I?”

She extended him a hand to help him up, but he stood on his own and dusted off his robes.

“Yes, but you shouldn’t let your guard down after you get your opponent down,” he told her, speaking more like a teacher than she wanted him to. She wanted to hold normal conversations with her, but that didn’t seem like it was going to happen.

“Can you ease up?” she said out loud before she even realized. A sense of dread set in when she did. She would’ve taken it back, but she didn’t.

“What?” he looked over at her, a little more upset from what she could see. It didn’t fit his face, and she regretted saying anything. That didn’t slow her down though, she had an opinion, and now that it was out, she would stand by it.

“I asked if you could ease up. I’m doing well in training; I’m following the rules. You’re tense and you’re taking it out on me,” she stated a bit boldly, crossing her arms and meeting his eyes.

It took Scythe Faraday a moment to respond, she wished she could tell what was going on in his head. Eventually he just sighed and waved it off.

“It’s nothing you should concern yourself about,” he gave her one last glance as he left, “Read over the Scythe commandments. I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

Once he was gone Susan gave a growl of frustration. She did as he told her, but this was getting a bit irritating. She wondered what was wrong. She wanted to help. But Scythe Faraday made that thought increasingly hard. She would do good this conclave and hopefully take away some of his worries.


	4. Rather Than A Weapon

Susan found herself lingering outside Scythe Faraday’s door a few nights after conclave. He had congratulated her, and for the first time in a while he had seemed genuinely happy about it. The stress from before was seemingly gone, and she was glad for it.

He enjoyed her breakfasts now, and they spoke a bit softer to one another. Just thinking about it set her heart aflutter. She knew after today’s gleaning Faraday’s robe had needed washing, and she knew from the closet down the hall that he had other clothing. She wanted nothing more than to catch a glimpse of him in something much more casual than a Scythe’s robe.

His door however was closed, and she knew better than to enter his room when the door was shut. Susan knew that this was a little weird, sitting outside his door at night, but she couldn’t help it. She was absolutely enamored! If anything, she felt this was Scythe Faraday’s fault.

As nice as he was being now, she still felt that he held an air of caution about him, but she wrote that off as one of the side effects of being a harbinger of death.

In the morning, she sat across from hm at the table with her food and watched him for a moment. Of course, he was back in his white robes. She watched him take a bite, judging whether or not this was a good time to spring questions on him. When she found it too hard to assess she spoke up anyways.

“So,” she started a bit awkwardly, “Scythe’s always wear their robes, even at home?”

Scythe Faraday looked up at her, “Yes,” he answered plainly.

“You’re not much older than me, why take on an apprentice so early?” she asked him, genuinely wanting to know.

“Because I felt that I was ready, and I felt that I had found a worthy apprentice,” Scythe Faraday wiped his face with a napkin. The restated idea that he found worth in her made her happier and more confident in her questions.

“What was your name before?” she then asked, she was really curious about who the famous Honorable Scythe Faraday had been before he had become a Scythe. She was sorely disappointed with the answer.

“It doesn’t matter, that’s not who I am anymore,” he said, not rudely, more as a fact. She could tell he was trying to get her to take something from that answer, but now she just felt dissatisfied.

“Once I’m a Scythe, will you tell me?” she asked.

“ _If_ you become a Scythe, I’ll tell you,” he corrected, but agreed to the terms which made her happy.

She leapt up, “I’m gonna go practice my Bokator!” she ran off to the training room, leaving Scythe Faraday at the table alone.

While she trained, Scythe Faraday left to accomplish his gleaning for the day. When he came back his robes were painted an uncomfortable shade of red, more chilling than Scythe Constantine’s, as they had been before.

“I’ll be in my room while my robes wash, I would like a glass of water around six please, bring my robes as well,” he said, leaving her moments after he stepped through the door. She knew that speaking with families and dealing death made the man a bit exhausted sometimes.

The prospect of entering his room though while his robes washed was exciting. She wanted to see Scythe Faraday for the human she knew he was, rather than just a weapon. She felt jittery the entire wait until six o’clock. She was at his door several minutes before, but only gave a meek knock right as six hit.

“Come in,” she heard his voice call from inside the room and she gulped.

She stepped inside, almost afraid to look up at first, but her eyes trailed up towards the Scythe who sat at his desk, scouring through the Thunderhead Backbrain on his pc. Susan almost gasped at the sight. Scythe Faraday sat in simple jeans and a sweater, she figured perhaps because he was use to something covering his arms.

She stood there for a moment, not sure how to form words. He looked like a boy she would’ve seen in the halls at her school. A young man. It was mind boggling to know that this was Honorable Scythe Michael Faraday, in the flesh. He looked much leaner than she thought he would without his robes to frame his face.

He turned to look at her, and she noticed that his Scythe ring was sitting next to him on the table.

“You have my water?” he asked, and she nearly jumped.

“I-I do,” she cursed to herself at the fact that she stuttered. So she pulled herself together and set his water on the desk next to him after taking a few steps forward. Her hand lingered there as she tried to gather herself.

“Thank you,” he said, gently taking the glass from her. The feeling of his hand brushing hers sent a ripple through her skin.

“I’m going to go study,” she nodded to him and promptly left. When in the comfort of her own room she quickly began writing in her journal. What an experience that had been.


	5. Scythe Curie

Finally came the day the had become a Scythe herself. She had chosen the name Marie Curie from history. A Powerful name no doubt and she felt that it fit her even more than her given name. It was one that she would no doubt grow use to within her coming lifetime.

Scythe Faraday seemed fairly happy for her, and definitely prouder than she had seen him before. He even offered to help her make dinner a few nights after.

Curie had done as she said she would, and she had gotten rid of previously presiding world leaders, which the Scythedom wasn’t too happy about. Though most of them actually agreed with her decision, even if they weren’t vocal about it, so the repercussions weren’t too drastic.

She felt a stunning sense of self superiority. No longer was Scythe Faraday above her. No, now they were on the same playing field, and that felt all the more stunning as she got together the things she needed to make dinner for the both of them.

She would be staying with him until she fond a residence that she found suitable, which wouldn’t take too long considering that she could easily find something humble in the backbrain. Though she wanted something at least a little flashier than Faraday’s abode.

“Curie,” Faraday called her name and she turned to him as he stood next to her, mixing something in a bowl for their meal.

“Yes?”

“Nothing… I suppose I just wanted to try out your new name. It suits you well,” Faraday smiled, and she had to say that she felt herself melting at it. She did chuckle just a little though.

“I spent lot of time thinking on it, so I would hope that I fit,” she teased.

While the food cooked, she stepped over to Faraday, rubbing his shoulders as she had done almost a year and a half before. He tensed a little, as he had done before, but this time he didn’t pull away from her.

“Curie?” he asked, this time more of a question to his tone.

“Yes?” she responded yet again.

“Why did you rub my shoulders like this back when I first accepted you as an apprentice?” he asked, letting curiosity seep into his voice.

“Well it’s a rather silly reason,” she giggled, “You seemed tense, and to be honest I was absolutely infatuated with you.”

That made Faraday freeze up quite a bit. She specifically hadn’t said that she was still infatuated with him for that reason. His movements seemed to take a lot more thought, and Curie took that as a sign to step away.

He said nothing for the rest of the meal, and she didn’t press the thought. It was almost amusing to see him as out of sorts as this, though she wouldn’t make it any worse than it already was.


	6. Just One

After around three more days Curie had moved into her own home, she was glad for all the extra space and spun around in the vacancy of the living area when she stepped inside. A large kitchen had been a must, and this house definitely had one.

It was an old historical home that had been beautiful in its heyday. She figured with enough work on her part she could get it looking that way again. The upkeep would keep her busy from time to time which she knew would mean a lot in the coming years.

Faraday visited from time to time, along with some other Scythes that she had met at the conclave. She looked forward to Faraday’s visits much more than the others though, because he never showed up unannounced. He let her know ahead of time, and he always visited when there weren’t other people around. The quiet between them was awkward, sure, but it was also familiar and nice.

It wasn’t until about two years later that Faraday had fully warmed up to her. They chatted like friends and Curie felt herself falling even more for him. This wasn’t a crush anymore, she could clearly tell. She loved the man who sat next to her on the couch, prattling on about the annoying Scythes he had met at one of the Conclaves.

“So Curie,” he started after their laughter about Constantine’s blunder a few years before subsided, “I have something I need to uh… perhaps show you.”

He suddenly seemed pretty flustered; she couldn’t imagine why. He handed her a journal with a bookmark in it. She opened it to the page to find an entry of his, and she began reading it to herself. The further she got, the more confused she felt.

“You… thought I wanted to murder you?” The word murder felt so foreign on her tongue. It wasn’t a word that anyone used anymore, because it wasn’t a word that could exist in this world of theirs. Well, usually, she supposed.

“I admit that it was… foolish of me to say the least,” Faraday rubbed the back of his neck and she saw that he was avoiding eye contact, “I… suppose that attraction wasn’t the first thing that came to my mind when I caught your gaze on me.”

Those words pushed Curie over the edge. It clearly surprised Faraday given the look on his face, but she couldn’t stop now. She was laughing loudly, barely able to get a breath in between bouts of laughter. Faraday looked more embarrassed than she had ever seen him, and that just made this all the more hilarious as he tried to correct and justify himself.

Eventually he gave up and let her laughter run its course. And eventually she did get a hold of herself, wiping tears from her eyes.

“It took you this long to share that?” she said as her giggles trickled away.

“And you wonder why it was,” he sighed and gave her an unamused expression, but she only smiled at that. She lifted a hand to his face, feeling the bit of stubble on his jaw for a moment, and watching the blush creep onto his cheeks. She then used her thumb to push his cheek up into a smile.

“You’re so serious, ease up a little,” she chuckled and took her hand away, though Faraday quickly grabbed it with his own.

She gave him a confused look, though the look on his own face told her that he was just as surprised about his actions as he was. He looked as though he was about to speak, so she gave him a moment. Curie herself was beginning to piece this together a bit better than he was though.

She leaned forward just a bit, and watched Faraday lean back hesitantly.

“Just… one,” he told her, making it very clear, but his voice shook.

That made Curie smirk and lean all the way in, giving him a kiss. She used an arm to bring him closer, seeing as he was tense and awkward. That was all the more endearing. His hand that held hers gripped tighter, and she knew he must be having trouble doing something that so clearly broke one of the scythe commandments.

It made her happy beyond words that he had done it though. He admitted he wanted this, even if it was only one. She knew how pure this was, nothing Faraday ever did was for lust. This was the purest form of love she felt a human could ever experience, let alone a Scythe.

She went to pull away, and giggled just a bit when Faraday followed and didn’t let her break just yet. He pulled away moments later with the look of a high school boy who had just received his first kiss at prom. Like all the magics of romance that people had told him finally flashed in his eyes, and it was more beautiful than he could imagine.

He was easy to read, and the sparkle in his eyes made Curie blush just a bit herself.

“Good enough for you?” she asked him quietly, as if anyone but the Thunderhead would be able to hear them.

“No,” he said with a stalled breath, then quickly began trying to correct himself, “Y-yes, good… but not enough by any means.”

With that Curie gave him another soft kiss, this time on the cheek, “Honorable Scythe Michael Faraday, ever the rulebreaker I see.”

“Gerald… is my real name. I promised I would tell you when you became a Scythe, and for you… I think it’d be worth it to break a few rules.”


	7. The Stars Would Be Jealous

The days after that confession had been utter bliss. Curie cooked with Faraday on days that he would visit, and they spent hours in each other’s company. They spoke as they use to, but there was a closeness to them now. What ten inches used to be between them on the couch was now nothing.

Faraday leaned back on Curie, her hand combing through his hair and both were silent. Sometimes when they were together they didn’t speak. They both held a fear that if they spoke, then perhaps someone would find them, and that caused both of them quite some distress from time to time.

Faraday tilted his head back to look up at her and she smiled at the awed look she was receiving.

“I never knew the Honorable Scythe Michael Faraday to be such a meek boy,” she teased him, and all he could do was chuckle in return.

“Please, who was infatuated with whom?” he retorted with a joke of his own.

“From the looks of things, I’d say I have you wrapped around my finger,” she said with a cocky smirk. She could see Faraday gulp, which just made her that much more confident. She leaned down and gave him a kiss, who knows how many they had given one another at this point, but the spark was still there each time it happened.

“You wouldn’t be wrong, by any means,” Faraday cleared his throat, “This is far more than the intended singular.”

“Maybe I like a rebel,” she laughed a bit and hugged him, pressing her face to his shoulder as she felt his face press against the side of her head. Her hands clutched to the front of the sweater he always wore when they were together.

“My dearest Curie…” he murmured to her, “I hope never a day passes where I am expected to keep myself from you.”

That made her smile, and she leaned back to look down at him while cupping his cheeks. Her thumbs brushed over stubble once more, and this time he held a smile all his own. With someone like Faraday with her, she thought she would be able to live all eternity and never be through with life. Gleaning got her down sometimes nowadays, but he always picked her right back up.

The best part was that she knew the reverse was true too.

“You have to do your job some days,” she ruffled his hair.

“I know, but for now I’d like to revel in time spent as though we never have to leave. I used to be jealous of the stars, you know. I always wanted to be far away after gleanings, I thought perhaps gleaning the unjust would make me feel better about it, but I always wanted to just leave. I think now the stars would be jealous of me though, to sit next to someone as bright as you,” Faraday gave her a full grin.

Curie gave no hesitation in smothering him again at that. As awkward as the man was, occasionally he spouted what felt like pure poetry. Or at least that’s what it felt like to her. She rubbed his shoulders again, giving him nothing but soft and pure affection.

Scythe’s weren’t allowed romance, but why, when it was so tempting as this? And why, when it made her feel so much better?


	8. Seven Deaths

Curie knew it was going to happen at some point. She could tell that their time was wearing thin, but she hadn’t quite been prepared for the day that it would happen. She knew that both her and Faraday had plans to tell one another they should break it off, but they couldn’t ever quite get it out around each other.

She didn’t know who had found out, but there were a few times recently that they hadn’t been quite as careful as they needed to be around the other Scythes. That had truly come back to bite them; especially now as they stood in front of Scythe Prometheus on The Island of Enduring Heart.

Grandslayer Prometheus looked down at them from where he sat with the rest of the Grandslayers. It was about as intimidating as she thought that it would be under the judgmental stares of Scythes who could easily decide that their fate was to be gleaned before those here to be set as an example.

She couldn’t say that was an unfair assumption, given that they directly broke a strict Scythe rule for around seven whole years. She glanced over to Faraday next to her, and found that he didn’t look quite as scared as she thought that he would. He looked like he held no inch of regret over the past seven years with her, and that made her heart swell for him even more than she thought possible before.

“Scythe Marie Curie. Scythe Michael Faraday,” Scythe Prometheus called on both of them, and they both looked up to him in respectful acknowledgement, “You have violated one of the Scythe Commandments and have, for seven years, held romantic relations with one another in secrecy. Do you admit to your crimes?”

“Yes, Grandslayer Prometheus,” they both said, there would be no lies here. If they were to be gleaned, they would be gleaned with honor. There was no use hiding it anymore. Prometheus gave them a stare suited for that of an unsavory bunch of kids.

“The two of you are quite difficult to deal with. On one hand we have the Grand Dame of Death, Marie Curie, and on the other the famous Honorable Scythe Michael Faraday,” Prometheus said to both of them, “To let you off easy would give the Scythedom a bad reputation. Though to glean Scythes of your standing wouldn’t be of too good use to us either.”

Curie almost sighed in relief at that. They weren’t going to be gleaned, so perhaps that meant that they’d be kicked out of the Scythedom permanently. That wasn’t a nice thought either. They wouldn’t be allowed back into society the way that everyone else was. They would no longer be Scythes to the Scythedom, but they still would be to everyone that they passed. Life would never be the same for them. They would be outcasts.

“So, I think we have all come to a conclusion on what to do with you,” the Grandslayer started, “You two will suffer a death for each year that you have been together. You will be revived after each death, and once you’ve been punished you will spend seventy years with no contact with one another.”

The seven deaths was definitely shocking and scared her just a bit, but the thought of seventy years apart from Faraday with no contact at all sounded far more excruciating than the prospect of seven torturous deaths.

“Do you accept?” he finished.

“Is there any choice?” Faraday spoke up, and Curie almost laughed at that. Prometheus wasn’t as amused by it.

“Then let us begin.”

Gun. Poison. Slashing. Bokator. Bludgeoning. Shock. Venom.

Seven deaths. All painful. All excruciating. It took everything Curie had not to look over at Faraday as it happened. She didn’t know if she could handle seeing something like this happening to him. As well as she knew him, she was sure he was doing the same.

After the seventh, both were exhausted, their nanites could only relieve so much pain at a time, so there was definitely a residual soreness to this. When she finally had the strength to, Curie looked up to see them leading a stumbling Faraday out of the room, and a few more Blade Guard did the same for her.

She knew that after this there would be a long silence between them. She knew watching him stumble out that door would be the last time she would see him for the next seventy years. Tears sprung to her eyes at the thought, and she couldn’t keep from sobbing. Unbeknownst to her Faraday was doing the same.

Not only had she lost a lover, but she had lost a best friend, and that was the most painful part of all.


	9. The Star That Shines Most

Seventy years. That was so much longer than Curie could fathom. Turning the corner had made it seem like it would never be that long, but it was. Nothing in her faded, but she had to act like it had. She acted like no semblance of any feelings she had for Faraday had survived that time, despite the fact that she would fall for him all over again if given the chance.

She had heard rumors that Faraday never set back his age to less than forty years old, so of course she subconsciously found herself doing the same. She didn’t mind the older body. They were some of the most well-known Scythes’ in the world. Presenting as a young adult would be more awkward than not if anything.

Their seventy years were up, and as much as she wanted to run to him and hold him in an embrace, that wasn’t an option. Seeking him out as it ended would just give rise to more suspicion. This was for both of their sakes.

The first time she saw him after the punishment was at the opposite side on a conclave. She had caught his gaze, and from the way things seemed he had been staring across at her, mind all but lost to what Xenocrates was saying.

She didn’t return any form of look. She could tell this was going to be more of a challenge for him than it was for her, so she redirected her attention to Scythe Xenocrates once again. She found that once he noticed he had done the same as well.

A few conclaves down the line she finally decided to break the ice.

“Hello there, Scythe Faraday,” She called in a formal manner, but the sound of her voice had caused Faraday to jump and whip around. She could practically hear his heartbeat from here.

He cleared his throat, “Good afternoon, Scythe Curie,” he kept up the same formality.

“I was hoping perhaps, good friends, would be an appropriate title to place between us,” she held out a hand to shake his. Curie had to set their bar here and now, lest they be tempted again. This would be the last time she looked upon Gerald Van Der Gans with any form of affectionate smile again. From here, colleagues and friends would have to do.

Faraday looked to her hand, then back to her face. She was glad he was a smart man, because he picked up on what she meant by this. He took her hand in his and shook it.

“Yes, Scythe Curie, I look forward to our friendship in the coming years until our end,” he said, his voice barely loud enough for anyone but her to hear, though those around them seemed satisfied with the exchange.

She let go, but Faraday stepped past her, whispering as he did, “I understand, and I will comply. But you will always be the star that shines most for me.”

Scythe Curie let him pass, and though her face gave away nothing. Her mind held many regrets.


	10. Epilogue

To see Scythe Faraday with another apprentice after all this time had passed was quite the surprise to Curie. She had been adamant about not having her own apprentice, but she supposed he always looked for just the right people.

What was even more shocking was that he had not only taken in one apprentice, but two, something that wasn’t written in the rules as a violation, but something that clearly people had never had the gall to try. She felt proud of him in that respect.

Testing Rowan and Citra at the conclave; she could see something in them. Something that she hadn’t expected to see in anyone else in the Scythedom. There was comradery. Trust. Friendship that she had seen in no one other than Faraday himself before.

Curie looked at Citra, there was no way she could go easy on this girl, not when she knew what Faraday was doing. Citra would have to be strong and bear with her. If she didn’t answer this in the manner that she thought she would, then there was no way that this girl would be worthy to train under Faraday. Faraday would have to know not to go easy on her in his older age.

“Citra Terranova,” she looked at the girl, then made eye contact with Faraday.

“Yes, Honorable Scythe Curie?” The girl responded, and Curie leaned in close.

“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?”


End file.
